Boston is set to add 225 liquor licenses to its minority neighborhoods over the next three years, and making sure restaurateurs are aware of the “golden ticket” is essential for success, city officials say.
In the 13 zip codes the liquor licenses are designated for, 587 food businesses are operating without liquor licenses, with many owners unaware of how to apply for one or that they exist at all, officials said during a hearing Tuesday.
Officials met to discuss how to flip that narrative just weeks after Gov. Maura Healey signed legislation representing the first major expansion of alcohol-serving establishments in Boston in a decade.
City Councilor Brian Worrell, who sponsored a home rule petition that shaped the legislation, said the state’s passage presents a “historic opportunity” and the licenses a “golden ticket.”
“We cannot expect that everyone who operates or wants to operate a restaurant sees an email or a social media post,” Worrell said. “The second step is making sure language isn’t a barrier and that the application process is transparent and easy to understand.”
As a first step to get in front of interested restaurateurs and would-be owners, the Boston Licensing Board held a webinar on the licenses on Monday and has another scheduled for Oct. 8.
The Office of Small Business will be holding neighborhood-specific information sessions for – Dorchester, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain and Roxbury on individual Thursdays this month, starting next week.
Officials are contemplating engaging in a door-knocking campaign while conducting direct outreach with main street organizations.
“We are very excited to have this conversation,” said Segun Idowu, chief of economic opportunity and inclusion. “Normally, we’re having to deliver not great news that unfortunately we don’t have any licenses to support the growth of a business, particularly in (these) neighborhoods.”
Of the 225 liquor licenses, 195 would be non-transferable licenses targeted to 13 ZIP codes in Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, Jamaica Plain, Roslindale, Charlestown, East Boston, and the South End.
The licenses are set to be distributed as five per year, per ZIP code, for three years in those neighborhoods. Of the five, three would be for all-alcohol sales and two would be for sales of beer and wine.
The bill also tethers three new all-alcohol licenses to Oak Square in Brighton, and 15 community licenses for sales of all alcoholic beverages to nonprofits, small theaters and outdoor spaces.
Officials received 16 applications for the first batch of licenses in September, with a deadline set for Dec. 6, Licensing Board Chairwoman Kathleen Joyce said.
Before the new bill, liquor licenses were capped at 1,400 in Boston, creating a situation where restaurants in underserved neighborhoods are priced out of the so-called secondary market, where liquor licenses are sold for as high as $600,000.
Kyisha Davenport, general manager at Comfort Kitchen in Dorchester, called the 225 liquor licenses a “dream,” one that will lead to a more inclusive restaurant scene in the city. She is urging the city to be adaptable with restaurateurs’ work schedules.
“I heard the word ‘golden ticket’ earlier, and I kind of tweaked,” Davenport said, “because you just don’t know how much work goes into this whether it’s free or not.”
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